Various silica catalysts for the preparation of para-xylene by methylation of toluene are known, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,306 to Herkes discloses such catalysts, and Dwyer et al. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,948 and Flanigan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,865 disclose similar hydrocarbon conversion catalysts. Mobil Oil Company sells catalyst of this type under the designation ZSM-5.
Such catalysts are prepared, for example see Herkes '306 patent, by a series of steps which includes mixing colloidal silica aquasol with a template compound, forming a solid crystalline product, and eventually activating the solid crystalline product by heating. Numerous other steps are or may be included in the process, for example seed crystals of silica may be added to the mixture of aquasol and template compound to influence the formation of a solid crystalline product, the solid crystalline product may be ion exchanged, the ion exchanged product may be mixed with a promoter, the solid product may be formed into pellets, and the pellets may be coated.